And so it begins
by mew mew panda-chan
Summary: when erza and lucy bail out on a quest natsu and gray and happy are 'forced' to spend a whole month in the mountains together. but when gray notices he has fealings for natsu and natsu begins to secretly feel the same what'll happen?posible M rating l8r
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail (but ya'll probably already knew that ;D)**

**A/N: So this is a Natsu x Gray fan fiction :3 the first 2 chapters are gonna be getting the story going. But chapter 3 is gonna be super fluffy and stuff so… enjoy and I hope everyone likes it!**

Natsu p.o.v.

"GRAY!" Natsu screamed spewing fire and almost scorching a surprised Lucy. "N-Natsu? What's wrong?" Lucy asked, still taken aback by Natsu's outburst. "Are. Quest. Is… MISSING!"The salamander screeched, flipping a table in the air and punching it with a fist of fire. Some of the fairy tail occupants began to shoot wary glances in his direction but –to be frank- he didn't give a damn. His and Lucy's quest was missing and he had a feeling that ice flinging fuck face had something to do with it. "Hey Natsu, calm down… wouldn't want you to spontaneously combust, now would we?" called out a cool, smug, voice. Natsu's eye twitched and he looked up to see a level headed –slightly cocky- Gray standing in front of him with a rolled up piece of paper. "Looking for this?" Gray unrolled the paper. It was a quest out in the mountains and was worth 300,000 jewel. "You cold hearted son of a bitch give it back!" Natsu leaned in for a punch but stopped when Gray simply put it in his hands. Now he was thoroughly confused. "Man, Gray I think the acids getting to your brain…" "Natsu –for like the 7th time- I don't take drugs!.. Now anyway there's a real reason I took your quest, aside from pissing you off which is always fun." Natsu arched an eyebrow, despite his anger he was now legitimately curious. He gave a questioning head tilt (still holding a scowl) to cue Gray to go on. "I took it because I want to go…" Natsu glowered, "che." Was his only response. "Come on Natsu, we always go on quests together. It's cold and icy in the mountains so I could be an asset… and besides Lucy's going to get a new key and Erza's escorting her so…" Gray grinned when he went wide eyed. "Shut up Gray! I'm sorry Natsu! I wanted to tell you but I had already agreed to go with you so…" Lucy whimpered, unable to go on. "So you planned and leaving a note and just leaving." He'd had guessed the precise answer. "Hehe… sorry Natsu… well I'm gonna go ahead and leave so um… bye." Lucy dashed away like an Olympic sprinter. "Damn it! And it's a two person quest… *sigh*… Gray… you're coming. Meet me here at 5 A.M. ready to go." Natsu sighed walking away in a sulking fashion. He hated when got his way. "Sure thing…" he heard Gray agreed as he walked to his apartment.


	2. unforgiving snow

**Disclaimer: I don't own fairy tail **

Natsu p.o.v.

Natsu lie on his bed –freshly showered- and bit his lip. The thought of spending almost a whole month with Gray gave him a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't name this said feeling but he wasn't sure he liked it. _Maybe I'm just nauseated with the idea of spending time with Gray… yeah that's probably it. _Natsu heaved another sigh before closing his eyes and snuggling into his comforter. Sleep hit him hard as it always did.

Gray p.o.v.

Gray was tired but didn't want to go home. He decided to sit out on a random park bench. The sky darkened and the stars lit it up like a thousand gleaming gems. He welcomed the cold, crisp air like an old and allowed it to engulf it an icy blanket. Not long after snow began to fall. Gray smiled to himself, catching a single snow flake with his tongue. December was his favorite month because it always snowed. It was only December 3rd so he had almost the whole month to enjoy. That was one of the reasons he wanted to go on the quest in the mountains.The other reason was –even though he'd never admit it out loud- no matter how much he pretended to hate Natsu, he didn't want him freezing to death in the mountains and becoming a salamander sickle (he gave a low chuckle when he remembered how Natsu looked when Lyon had turned him into a giant waddling snow ball). Everyone at fairy tail knew they were best friends even though their pride wouldn't let them admit it.

Soon the snow had covered the village in a dazzling white blanket. He sighed in contempt, watching his breath turn into wispy tendrils in the night time air. He knew he needed to get inside but he couldn't. _If I fall asleep I'm screwed, I can't control ice when I'm not conscious so it'll have a normal affect on me as it does other people… _the cold was biting at him and yet he still couldn't get up. _Sleep, _his thoughts whispered to him. He tried to fight it but couldn't. His eyes shut and he went under; the snowy landscape before him blackening. Gray's body slumped and laid on the park bench in a feeble curled up position. He had passed out.

Natsu p.o.v.

Natsu had woken up 2 hours early –which was strange for him- and decided to go out for a walk. The ground was covered in snow. Natsu drew his arms around himself and breathed out steam to heat himself up a little. Unlike Gray he hated the cold and, god, it was _cold_!

Something caught Natsu's eye. A body shaped lump (covered in snow) was lying on a park bench. He ran over to it and dusted the lump off. He choked out a gasp. It was Gray, barely breathing, lips blue and much colder than usual. Only Gray would be stupid enough to sleep in a semi blizzard. Even for an ice wizard this was too much. "Oi!.. Gray!" he shook him but Gray continued to sleep. "Damn it!" Natsu slung gray –who was slightly taller- over his shoulder. Gray was heavy on his back and the cold wasn't helping. _Gray, I swear to god if you get hypothermia and die, I won't forgive you! _Natsu grit his teeth and ran with all his might, sending snow flying in the air behind him.

Natsu opened the door to his house, breathing deeply. He laid Gray on his bed. "Gray… You better be okay…" he breathed fiercely.

**A/N: Yay, I'm so excited! The next chapter is gonna be super cute and fluffy :3 **


	3. thank you

**Disclaimer: I Don't own Fairy Tail**

Gray p.o.v.

Gray felt himself regaining consciousness. He felt strangely warm and comfortable. _That's weird; I fell asleep in the snow… I shouldn't be warm. _He forced his eyes open. He was lying on a bed next to a crackling fire. To his right Natsu was sitting on the floor, playing idly with a loose string of fabric. Happy was sleeping on a chair next to the door, muttering something about fish and drooling slightly. Gray sat up causing a floor board under the bed to creak. Natsu shot up from the ground and gave a relieved look in his direction. "Oi! Gray you're awake!" Natsu smiled smugly and plopped next to him. "Natsu, why am I at your house?" "Because you were about to go into hypothermic shock when I found you so I brought you hear. In other ways I saved you." Natsu grinned cockily. Gray blinked in surprise. Natsu had saved him… he looked down awkwardly when something caught his eyes. "Um Natsu… just out of curiosity… why am I in my boxers? I'm pretty sure I didn't take my clothes off…" he arched an eyebrow and pink dusted Natsu's cheeks. "Gay stop making it sound so suggestive! Your clothes were soaked and I had to take them off before you caught a cold or something… I didn't do anything so stop looking at me like that!" Natsu began to get flustered and his face darkened even more. Gray let out a low chuckle. Something about Natsu's face made him look really vulnerable. It was actually kind of cute. A strange impulse ran through Gray at that moment. He grabbed Natsu's shoulders and forced him down, climbing on top of him so that their faces were only inches apart. "G-Gray?" Natsu stammered, his whole face going crimson. "Heheh Natsu you look so adorable when you make such confused expressions." Gray said lowly, smirking when Natsu got annoyed at the word adorable. "Gray… get off me…" Natsu squirmed under his grip, biting his lip. Grays eyes widened, face reddened, and heart beat increased. He had REALLY liked the face that Natsu had made. He bent down and whispered into Natsu's ear, "I don't want to." Before lightly biting down on his cartilage. Natsu gasped and his breath hitched. "Nn… Gray…" he panted slightly, biting down on his lip a little harder. _He's trying to suppress a moan… well I guess I'll have to try a little _harder_. _He trailed his lips down to the most sensitive part of Natsu's neck and biting down very gently. "Graaay…" Natsu moaned quietly, closing his eyes and gripping Gray's shoulders. "Gray… what are you… doing?..." Natsu asked hoarsely, eyes half lidded. "I guess you could say that I'm thanking you…" He laughed seductively. "Gray stop screwing around your just trying to embarrass me… a-ah…" Natsu attempted to sound pissed but stopped and started moaning again when Gray bit down a little harder. Natsu gripped down on his bare shoulders even harder, struggling closer to his face, and said in a husky whisper "Gray…" Grays face went blood red and he gulped a little. He would be lying if he said he didn't find the way Natsu had said his name extremely sexy. Hell, he'd be lying if he said he didn't Natsu, in general, extremely sexy right now! "You know Natsu I like the way you look when you're under me." He teased the rosette, playing with a strand of his hair. "Sh-shut up!" he pouted in embarrassment. "So Natsu… can I _really_ thank you now?" Gray asked, giving thick suggestive meaning in his words. Natsu didn't answer, but instead inched closer to his face. Gray couldn't take it anymore; he collapsed on top of Natsu, slinking his arms around his tanned waist. Natsu's arms went around Gray's neck, feeling warm on his paler skin. "Natsu…" Gray murmured, inching closer to his lips. "Yes Gray?" Natsu asked eyes wide and shining. "I think i…" he didn't finish. Someone banged loudly on the door. Natsu and Gray jumped guiltily apart right before Loki swaggered in, running a hand through his hair. "Shouldn't you to be on a mission?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be in the spirit world or flirting it up with Lucy?" Natsu retorted. Loki looked them over with suspicious eyes before arching an eyebrow. "Why are yalls faces so red?.. And where are your clothes Gray?" "We were just fighting." Gray lied in an impressive manner. "But you interrupted." He was genuinely pissed now. Loki had interrupted something but it wasn't a fight. "Um… Oh… Okay, I guess… well anyway you guys should get going. You can continue… _fighting_ when you get there." Loki gave them a knowing look before nonchalantly adding, "Natsu you should really cover up that bite mark." He walked out of the house. Natsu's whole body was burning a furious shade of scarlet and he touched his neck self consciously before picking up his scarf and knotting it around his neck. "Gray… we should… get going…" he whispered, grabbing his bag and walking past Gray. He grabbed Natsu's arm and pinned him against the wall. "We're not going anywhere until I say thank you for taking me home with you. Then you can wake up Happy and we can get going." "Gray we have to- Mmph!.. mmm…" Gray pushed his lips against Natsu's, feeling the kiss vibrate pleasantly when Natsu moaned a little in surprise. Natsu's lips were very soft and warm and inviting. The way his lips moved against Gray's was intoxicating and he loved every moment of it. He pulled away reluctantly, savoring the utterly shocked look on Natsu's bright red face. They breathed in air deeply. "Natsu thank you." He grinned while Natsu looked down sheepishly, eyes still wide with shock. _Well this should be a _very _interesting quest. _He thought smugly, smiling at the idea.

**A/N: Loki knows all 0.0 the next chapter will be Natsu's p.o.v. of this situation.**


	4. craving

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail**

**Oh my god everyone has been so awesome in their reviews. Thank you for all the support and constructive criticism; I really appreciate it. Like I told y'all last chapter, this chapter is Natsu's version of what happened in chapter 3. I think Natsu deserves to give his point of view XD enjoy…**

Natsu p.o.v.

He began to get flustered attempting to explain why he'd taken off the raven's clothes when Gray let out a strange chuckle. _Is he laughing at me? What's so god damn funny?_ Natsu was about to open his mouth to tell Gray off for laughing at him when he felt himself being pushed down. The next thing he knew Gray was hovering over him. "G-Gray?" was the only thing he could manage to stammer out as his face began to burn slightly and his heart started speeding up. "Heheh… Natsu you look so adorable when you make such confused expressions." Gray smirked._ I am not adorable!_ He thought stubbornly. The words 'stubborn uke' ran through his mind and he almost had a heart attack. _Don't think that at a moment like this! _He mentally scolded himself. _Okay I have to get out of this situation before I start thinking even more inappropriate things…_

"Gray… Get off me…" He squirmed, biting down on his lip; this was really embarrassing. The face Gray made shocked Natsu. It was probably the most adorable face he'd ever made. It made Natsu want to push him over and hug him. _Don't think that! _

He felt Gray shift so that he was breathing in his ear. "I don't want to." Gray replied before biting down on his cartilage. He let out a loud gasp; that had felt _really _good! He bit down hard on his lip to suppress a moan. "Nn… Gray…" his tone of voice surprised him. He was enjoying this way more than he should have been. He felt Gray's lips running down his neck until they stopped at the most sensitive part of it. He was trying to control his irregular breathing. _Oh god, what's he going to do? _Natsu was about to protest when he felt Gray's teeth bite down. His eyes widened in shock when his body was covered in goose bumps and a tingling sensation ran from his neck to the lower regions of his body. He shuttered in pleasure.

"Graaay…" he moaned lowly as the heat continued to rush through his body. His eyes snapped shut and he gripped Gray's shoulders from the intense pleasure of the situation.

Why was he letting Gray do this? Actually the better question was why was Gray doing this? "Gray… what are… you doing?" he panted trying to keep his voice steady. He saw Gray ponder the question for a second before his eyes glinted lightly. "I guess you could say I'm thanking you…" he replied, giving an extremely sexy laugh that sent shivers rippling through Natsu's body.

"Gray, stop screwing around. You're just trying to embarrass me… A-ah!.." the pissed voice he was trying to maintain vanished into a moan when Gray bit down harder and let his tongue dart out onto his skin for a second. The electric feeling darted straight down from his neck to his groin in less than a second, making most of his thought process go away. _Screw trying to make him stop… I don't want him to stop… _he gripped down harder on Gray's shoulders and struggled closer to his seductive face. "Gray…" he whispered huskily.

His heart raced when Gray's face went blood red. _He's so cute when he blushes… _Gray stared at him so intensely, his skin began to tingle. He felt Gray's gaze travel up and down his body, lingering at certain spots. "You know Natsu I like the way you look when you're under me." Gray teased. "Sh-shut up!" he pouted like the stubborn uke he was. _So… that makes Gray the seme… _Natsu felt his heart hammer at the thought. He actually kind of liked that idea… "So Natsu…. Can I _really _thank you now?"Gray asked suggestively. _Yes you can. _His whole being was craving for Gray to 'thank' him. He inched closer to Gray's face in reply.

Gray collapsed on top of Natsu and slinked his arms around his waist. He put his arms around Gray's neck, enjoying the feeling of the being pressed up against him. "Natsu…" Gray murmured getting closer to his lips. "Yes Gray?.." Natsu's eyes widened. Gray bit down on his lip. "I think I…" he stopped when a loud knock hit the door. They broke apart guiltily just before Loki walked in. _Oh crap, he almost saw us! _"Don't you two have a mission?" Loki asked, running a hand through his hair. "shouldn't you be in the spirit world or flirting it up with Lucy?" he retorted. "Why are y'all's faces so red… and where are you clothes Gray?" Loki arched an eyebrow at them. _God if he knows what just happened between us there will be only one solution… I'll have to kill the nosy bastard! _It was a completely childish thought on his part but he couldn't help it; he was inwardly flipping the fuck out.

"We were fighting." Gray lied coolly. "But you interrupted." Gray practically spat. His stomach clenched. Gray was obviously talking about what was going on before Loki had walked in. "Um… oh… okay, I guess… well anyway you guys should get going. You can continue… fighting when you get there." He shot them a knowing look before adding with a small smirk, "Natsu you should really cover up that bite mark." Loki walked out of the house.

His eyes widened and he touched his neck. _Shit! What have I done?.. _"Gray we should… we should get going…" he whispered sadly, grabbing his bag and scarf and walking past Gray. Before Natsu could get anywhere Gray had him pinned against the wall. Gray looked fiercely at him with his stormy gray eyes burning into him. "We're not going anywhere until I say thank you for taking me home. Then you can wake up Happy and we can go."

"Gray we have to… mmph!.. mm…" Gray pressed his lips to Natsu's and he let out a small moan of pleasurable surprise. Gray's lips were very soft and pleasant moving against his. He felt himself melting into the kiss and with every little breath and movement a new sensation was added to an already delicious kiss. To his slight disappointment Gray pulled away. "Natsu thank you" Gray grinned. Natsu blushed, refusing to look up. _He kissed me… I wonder… How's this quest going to end? _He peeked up to see Gray smiling.


	5. gray wout an 'r'

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**

**A/N: Sorry this chapter was a little late. I'm grounded, so I'm texting my chapters over to my friend Gracie (Karma Ren) so she can post them for me Thank you, Gracie! I wuv you! Anyway, I will continue to update about once a week (because I'm a super sneaky ninja and I love my readers too much to wait to post new chapters until I'm ungrounded). Hehe I had lots of fun with this chappy, it was super fun. Just so yall know, a super mega amazing thing awaits you in chapter 7 and that's all I'm saying so look forward to that. I'll update soon. And let's all say thank you to Gracie for being a super awesome friend of amazingness! XD**

**(Tiny note by Gracie: She's too kind; I blushed while I typed this. I apologize if I screw anything up! I know my grammar's inconsistent, and I REALLY should have just stuck with Panda-chan's, but it I'm OCD and it didn't work out that way… Sorry!)**

Natsu p.o.v.

"Happy, wake up…" Natsu said. The cat looked up. "Aye!... Um, Natsu, were you attacked by a vampire?"

"No! Why would you think that?"

"Well… you have a bite mark on your neck." His face burned red and Gray fell to the ground, laughing in the background.

_Damn it, Gray, I'm going to have to kill you now… _

"Um… Well… Happy, you see…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, trying to find the right words to explain this strange situation.

"And why is Gray here already? And why isn't he wearing anything but boxers? And why is he laughing?" Happy was on a roll with asking uncomfortable questions. Gray stood up, wiping a tear from his eye, and walked over to Happy.

"Well, Happy, in my defense, it's not that weird for me to be half naked… If you really want to know the truth, I bit him," Gray stated bluntly as Natsu practically fainted.

"Gray… You're a vampire?" Happy concluded with wide eyes. Gray started laughing again while he banged his head repeatedly on a wall.

"Gray, put some clothes on so we can just go…" Natsu groaned in an exasperated tone, walking out of the door. They walked in awkward silence for the first 30 minutes which gave him time to think.

_What exactly is happening between me and Gray? Do I like him? Am I… Gay? No, I cannot be gay! … Or could I? Damnit! This is giving me one hell of a headache!_

"Natsu! Oi, Natsu?" Gray called, waving a hand in his face. He blinked in mild surprise.

"Sorry, I was thinking…" He grumbled awkwardly.

"Okay… Well as I was saying, Happy is going to meet us up in the mountains. You and I are going by train," Gray said, faking nonchalance.

_Oh shit! I'm going to be alone with him! … In a moving vehicle!_

Gray closed the compartment's door for privacy and sat next to the nauseous Natsu. "How do you feel?" Gray asked.

"Sick," Natsu groaned, clutching his stomach.

"How uncool… You could lay your head on my lap and close your eyes if you want," Gray teased. Natsu almost wanted to, but refused instead.

"No thanks… I'd prefer not to get sexually harassed again." He folded his arms over his chest stubbornly.

"It's not sexual harassment if you liked it," he chuckled before kissing him teasingly on the jaw. He tensed.

"Gray, you son of a bitch! Don't make me roast your ass!" Natsu yelled warningly, showing a fist of fire. A mischievous glint burned in Gray's eyes.

"How are you going to 'roast my ass' when you're preoccupied thinking of other things to do with it, ne?"

"That's it, I'm going to kill you!" he jumped into Gray's lap and wrapped his hands around Gray's neck in an attempt to strangle him.

"Natsu, I'm sorry! I was just kidding!" Gray apologized hoarsely. He let go reluctantly, still sitting on Gray's lap. "See, I made you forget about your motion sickness!" Gray smiled broadly.

He gasped. It was true, but only for a moment. "Yeah, but now it's coming back…" he complained, hunched over in agony.

"Well then, I'll just have to preoccupy you again..." Gray said, laying on the bench, pulling Natsu down with him.

"Gray, what are you doing?" he demanded.

"Preoccupying you," he answered playfully.

"Che. I should really get a restraining order against you… Besides, it's not cool to mess with people's emotions," he grumbled, struggling slightly.

"I'm doing no such thing!" Gray gasped dramatically then faltered. "Wait, you have emotions towards me? What kind?" Gray pressed eagerly.

"Annoyance mostly! … But something more confusing too… I get a headache every time I try to figure it out!" he sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Hmm… could it be that you like me?" Gray asked, deathly serious.

"W-what? N-no!" Natsu raged, face darkening.

"Hey, Natsu… I… Never mind… Anyway, can we just stay like this for a little bit… I'm *yawn* sleepy… and you're very…. *yawn*… Warm…"

Before Natsu could even respond, Gray tightened his grip around his waist and began to snore softly. He was about to slap him awake when he saw Gray's face.

"Gray…" he breathed. He looked so peaceful and innocent in his sleep. Gray's lips were parted in a cute little 'o' shape and his hair sprawled messily across his face.

_He must be sleeping pretty comfortably to be making a face like that… Oh yeah, I shouldn't be thinking like that when I'm on top of him like this, _he mentally face palmed.

Natsu yawned and snuggled close to Gray's chest, unconsciously, listening to the slow, steady, rhythmic sound of Gray's heart beat.

_I'll close my eyes for just a second… _and with that thought, he fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.

Gray p.o.v.

When Gray woke up, he saw Natsu cuddling up to him with a cute expression.

_Hmm, this is nice… I feel comfortable… But what does this mean? I think I might have feelings for him… Actually, I think I always have and being mean was just a cover up… So this means that I'm… Gay…_ Gray cringed inwardly a litte; he hated admitting his feelings, even to himself!

_Damnit, Natsu, you've really gone and done it now! You've turned me homosexual! I should beat you up for this! And what would the guild do? They'd never let me live it down! And… and what if Natsu doesn't feel the same way? _Gray felt his heart sink at the thought.

_So what the hell am I supposed to do now? How do I find out without making an idiot out of myself? They really need a beginner's manual to being gay or something… God, I'm so confused!_

"The train will stop in 15 minutes," a voice from the speakers informed.

"Natsu! Wake up, we're almost there." He shook him until Natsu's eyes opened up. "Pleasant dreams?" he asked Natsu teasingly.

"Shut up…" Natsu mumbled, getting off him and sitting up.

"Heheh sorry, just teasing," he smiled apologetically.

"G-gray!" Natsu gasped in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"W-well the face you just made… your eyes looked all sad… it kind of made me want to hug you…" Natsu replied, scratching his head awkwardly and averting his eyes.

"Well, I'm open for a hug anytime the urge hits you," he laughed, spreading his arms out wide.

"Shut up. If Lucy was here, you wouldn't be harassing me like this…" Natsu complained, half heartedly. Gray felt a pang of jealousy in his heart.

"Che… Don't say things like that again or… I'll really show you harassment," Gray warned, folding his arms over his chest and looking away. His eyes widened when Natsu reached over and patted him on the head, smiling.

"Don't make such a sulky face; it doesn't fit you. I won't say that again."

Gray smiled softly. _Yep, I'm definitely gay._


	6. decision

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail**

**A/N: ah to be ungrounded :D I am just so freakin' happy! ****xXshenjaneXx****: heheh, I got grounded because I had a C in math… I'm dumb… thank you everybody for liking my story! I read yalls reviews and I almost died of happiness (seriously I almost did 0.o)**

Natsu p.o.v

They stepped off the train, bags in hand. In front of them was a vast, white, mountainous landscape.

"It's s-so f-freakin' cold!" he cried out wrapping his arms around himself. Something draped over his shoulders. It was a coat Gray had put over his shoulders. "Put this on." Gray demanded.

"Mm." he slipped it on and zipped it up, stuffing his hands into the pockets. "Let's go find Happy." He said walking up one of the mountain's trails.

He heard Gray's footsteps echo his own. _Gray… I wonder what exactly is going on between us? _He wondered silently to himself.

"Hey Natsu what exactly is this quest about?" Gray asked, breaking his small window of concentration. "You came on this quest and you don't even know what it's about…" he concluded slowly, letting out a long sigh.

"Well yeah… I knew both Erza and Lucy were busy and –aside from Happy- I didn't want you to be alone. And besides you always seem to pick overly dangerous quests and I didn't want you to get hurt." Gray admitted, shrugging awkwardly.

_Oh… _that took him by surprise and he had to force himself to keep walking. A weird pang went through his chest when he thought of Gray being worried about him. "Natsu?... you okay? You got really quiet all of a sudden."

"Oh… uh sorry." He coughed out awkwardly. "Well um anyway the quest is basically this; there have been a number of weird occurrences in the mountains having to do with kidnappings and pentagrams and they all happen randomly… the strangest thing is that nobody has seen who or whatever is causing this to happen… anyway, are job is to use the first two weeks for surveillance, then another week to work out a plan, and the last week to execute the plan."

"Wow' that's quite a lot for only 300,000 jewel." Gray pointed out. "Haha well just think of it as a vacation in the mountains. You like snow anyway so…"

Natsu and Gray came to an abrupt halt. A shadowy figure flew through the trees and out of view but that wasn't what their attention was directed at. Laying a few feet away was Happy with a cut paw, lying in the middle of an unfinished pentagram of blood.

"H-Happy?" he choked out, feeling his heart go cold. "Natsu…" he whispered trying to sit up. He ran over to Happy and sunk to his knees, cradling him to his chest. "Who the hell did this to you?" his voice was pure cold hate. "I don't… know… it was a weird shadow looking thing… N-Natsu I'm so c-cold" Happy whispered in a raspy tone.

He ripped a piece of cloth from his jacket and tied it around his paw and concealed Happy in his arms. He put of ring of fire around them, sending a small shower of warmth.

"Come on Natsu, we have to find some shelter. The snow's getting really bad." Gray put a hand on his shoulder and urged him forward.

They set up in a spacious enough cave and Natsu started a fire. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small aluminum can. "Happy I've got some tuna in a can." He grinned at his already healing cat.

Happy's eyes lit up. "TUNA!" Natsu opened it and Happy ate it greedily before closing his eyes sleepily. "It's okay, you can go to sleep." "Aye sir…" Happy mumbled, drifting off comfortably.

Gray p.o.v

Natsu crossed over to the side of the cave Gray was sitting at. He smiled gingerly when the rosette plopped down next to him. He leaned onto the caves cool wall.

"Is Happy okay?" he asked, sipping from a canteen before putting it away. "Yeah. He was just a little shaken up… but he's okay…" Natsu leaned his head down, casting shadows across his face. "Natsu we're going to find that thing…" he whispered. Natsu's shoulders hunched.

"I know… but if I would have been just a little faster!.. Happy would be okay if I would have been just a little faster… damn it!" Natsu slammed a clenched fist on the hard cave ground, fresh blood running down his knuckles. When Natsu attempted to repeat the action gray caught a hold of his wrists.

"Natsu! Calm down, it's not your fault!" he yelled trying desperately to talk some since into him. "Yes it is! I deserve to be punished!.. I deserve to be hurt…" Natsu shook a little, looking as if he was a second from hyperventilating. Seeing Natsu in this kind of pain was too much for him to bear.

Gray grit his teeth, shut his eyes, and did the only thing he could to bring Natsu back to his senses.

He drew his hand back and slapped him in the face with full force. The sound of a cracking whip echoed through the cave. Natsu's eyes widened and his breath regulated. "Sorry Gray…" Natsu muttered, touching his pink cheek. A pain like no other poured through his heart at those words.

"Yeah me to…" he whispered shakily, pulling Natsu into his arms. For once Natsu didn't complain, but just put his head on his chest. He rested his chin on Natsu's hair. "Natsu… It really is going to be okay… do you believe me?" he soothed, stroking Natsu's surprisingly soft hair.

"The thing is I actually do…" Natsu admitted softly. He was slightly surprised. _So my words aren't completely useless to him… I'm glad. _

Gray smiled ever so slightly and tightened his embrace around Natsu by just a fraction.

"Hey gray…" Natsu had adopted a new mischievous edge to his voice. "What's up?" he asked looking down at a smiling Natsu. "I wonder what Juvia would do if she saw you holding me like this?" he laughed when Gray shuddered.

"God, she would probably drown us… she can be scary when she's jealous. I hate the thought of telling her I don't like her but instead I like… um, somebody else…" he caught himself at the last moment, almost telling Natsu he liked him. _I have got to be more careful!_

"Oh so you don't like her, that's good. For some reason, thinking about you and Juvia together gives me an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach that I don't like. The kind of feeling I get when I eat a rancid fish or something…"Natsu said, looking frustrated.

Gray's lips twitched and he had to suck in a laugh. _Pfft!.. Ahahaha! He's jealous and he doesn't even know it! That's to freaking cute! _He grinned downed at Natsu when a wave of curiosity hi him.

"Sooo… How do you feel about Lucy?" he asked, his heart thrumming in fear for the answer to his question. "Hmm… She's cool. I like knowing and laughing with her." Natsu answered earnestly and fondly. Gray's stomach clenched like he'd taken a blow to the stomach and his eyes narrowed.

"But she's only a friend of course. And I think she like Loki!" Natsu finished, smiling brightly. He let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding.

_Oh, thank god! Only a friend… wait, so what am I to you?.. Do you even consider me a friend? _He felt a sickening kind of sadness at the thought of being no one of importance in Natsu's life. _Of course I'm not important to him… All I've been doing is harassing him and pissing him off lately… why would he like me? _

"Gray you look kind of sad; is something wrong?" Natsu asked, concern evident in his eyes. _Yes. _"No" he lied. "You're lying." Natsu pointed out. _How did he know?_

"I _know_ you're lying because I _know_ you Gray." That had caught him off guard; he hadn't expected Natsu to say something like that. "If you want, I'll pat you on the head again. Levi told me that make people feel better." Natsu offered.

This wasn't fare. Natsu was being too nice to him and it was making it extremely hard for him not to say anything. _Then why don't you tell him… _his mind whispered to him. His heart jolted painfully when he looked into Natsu's eyes.

_I truly cannot take this any longer… _"Natsu' I need to tell you something." His face grew serious and determined. "What is it Gray?" Natsu asked, slightly confuse by Gray's sudden change in attitude.

"I think… I like you."

**A/N: cliff hanger (cue dramatic music). I'll be sure to put up chapter 7 very soon; I promise. I feel kind of evil about what I did to Happy…**


	7. lust and evil cameras

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail **

Natsu p.o.v

His eyes widened in disbelief and his cheeks began to burn. Had he just heard that or was it just his imagination. How could Gray like him? Gray couldn't like him and this was just some sick joke to mess with his head; it had to be.

A million and one questions were running through his head but all he could manage to squeak out was, "Eh?"

"I said I think I like you… more than a friend…" Gray gulped, trying to conceal his blush in the darkness. "Gray… don't tease me."

"I'm not." Gray whispered solemnly, a lonely expression taking over his handsome face. His heart wrenched at the pure desperation radiating off Gray. "That's all I wanted to tell you so you can never talk to me again if you want." Gray hid his face in his hands.

He didn't want that. A strange sense of sadness and confusion intermingled inside him but something else to… a strong craving and longing also spun out of control inside of him. It both exited and frightened him at the same time. He was beginning to notice that he wanted to be someone to Gray, not just as a friend or ally but something more entiment and complex.

"Gray… I want you to prove it… Prove that you like me… and also I want you to prove so I can know how I feel about you…" he coughed awkwardly –cheeks dusted pink- and stared at his hands.

A flash of uncertainty ran through Gray's eyes, deciding whether or not Natsu's words were true and if he should take action on them.

"Okay but don't forget this was _your _idea." Gray smiled before pushing him to the ground and climbing on top of him. Before he could even react Gray pressed their lips together. He blinked in surprise before putting his arms around Gray's neck. Gray's arms went around his waist. He allowed himself to be whisked away by the kiss, melting into the feeling of Gray's feather light touches and movements.

Before long he felt Gray bite down on his lip. He let out a small 'ow' before letting out a big gasp. Gray had maneuvered his tongue into Natsu's mouth.

Gray massaged his tongues –making sure to hit all the sensitive regions with expert precision- and twisted them together. "A-ah." A small moan escaped from the back of his throat.

Their eyes widened in unison. The moan caused a vibration to run through their mouths and damn did it feel good! He was in desperate need of oxygen but he couldn't pull away from Gray's addicting kisses.

Gray pulled away for a few seconds and he noticed that he felt slightly lightheaded but in a way it was kind of nice. That's when Natsu noticed something; Gray was doing all the work and that really pissed him off!

He knotted his hands in Gray's hair and pressed his lips back against Gray and began to respond with more fierce passion than he ever knew he was capable of. Gray let out a surprised moan of pleasure and he smiled against his lips. They broke apart once more both blushing and panting heavily.

"Heheh… see Gray … I can do those kinds of things to…" he gloated, trying to regain his breath. "Oh, getting a little cocky are we?" Gray asked smiling dangerously.

Gray ripped his jacket off to reveal his bare chest and a scarf knotted around his throat. Gray gingerly removed the scarf (knowing how important it was to Natsu) and placed it on the ground before leaning down and biting onto the sensitive area of his neck.

His eyes widened a considerable amount when he felt Gray lick and suck his neck. He shuttered in pleasure as burst of sensations ran through his body and spiked a reaction in his lower half as heat pooled into the lower region of his stomach.

His whole body felt hot and achy and it seemed like only Gray could soothe the pain and bring a so much more desired feeling to him. He wanted gray, needed Gray! Natsu craved his touch.

His breath became ragged. "Mm… Ah… G-Gray!" he moaned huskily when Gray bit down harder and he wrapped his legs around Gray's lower waist.

Gray p.o.v.

His eyes widened. _God what I wouldn't do to hear him say my name like that again! _He was now fully aroused and he looked below his waist to confirm it.

_And apparently _so _is Natsu. _He smiled at the thought that struck him. He lowered his hand to Natsu's inner thigh, dangerously close to his arousal.

"Gray what are you- _A-ah!_" Natsu moaned sexily when he began to rub the bulge of Natsu's pants.

"I'm glad you like my touch…" he chuckled; listening with delight to all of Natsu's arousing moans and gasps of deep ecstasy.

Natsu p.o.v

_I don't think you understand just how much I do. _His toes clenched and he let out a deep throaty moan when Gray squeezed down teasingly and bucked his hips slightly. _It feels so good… I want… more… _he thought fuzzily, drowning in the feeling of the moment.

At that same moment Gray began to fiddle with the zipper of his pants and began placing passionate kisses on his lips. This time when he allowed entrance into his mouth Gray did something a little different than last time.

He felt gray bite and suck his tongue, making the heat from his stomach shoot down to his groin. _Every time I think kissing him can't get any better than this he goes and proves me wrong. _

When Gray bit down more roughly he let a loud shaky moan and slid against Gray in an attempt to deepen the kiss. Instead of deepening the kiss, his movement caused their bottom halves to rub together which created the most delicious friction and kicked Natsu's and –by the way he reacted- Gray's lust for one another into overdrive.

Gray pressed himself into Natsu and gave the waistband of his pants an experimental tug. He whined slightly I impatience, wanting Gray to stop taking his god damn time.

"Heheh… What's wrong Natsu? Getting a little impatient, are we?" Gray teased in an uneven tone before emitting a small 'hmm' of thought. "Does that mean you give me permission to go as far as I want?" Gray asked, pressing down aggressively on his member for full meaning of his words.

He unintentionally bucked his hips, pressing his member into Gray's oh so inviting hand.

"Y-yes I give you permission, so please do whatever y-you want…" he managed to pant out, his head and vision a little fuzzy with lust. Gray blinked in shock before a predatory grin graced his face.

_Whatever he's thinking I'm sure I'll like. _Gray placed his hands on either side of his hipsand grabbed the cloth of his pants when a click echoed through the cave. They froze in surprise before slowly turning their heads in the general direction of the noise.

His stomach lurched and let his legs unwrap themselves from Gray. "Oh…" Gray began. "…Shit." He finished, fresh embarrassment taking over his senses. Happy stood there with a camera in hand and an overly fake innocent smile on his face.

He quickly buttoned his pants, readjusted his scarf, slipped on his jacket, and jumped up from the ground. "Happy, give me the camera." He said in a steely voice.

"No! Levi told me to take a picture and bring it to her if you two were doing anything inappropriate around me and bring to her strait away." He explained, giggling and flying in the air. _Damn it! That freaking closet yaoi fan, I'd kick her ass if Gajeel wasn't so possessively protective of her! _

"You wouldn't." Gray and he said in awe stricken unison. "Oh, but I would." Happy chuckled deviously -which was very unbecoming of him since he had such a light, squeaky voice.

Happy flashed them the image on the camera before flying away calling out, "I'll be back soon, try not to take Natsu's innocence before that; if you can restrain yourself that is."

He replayed the image of the picture in his head again. Gray was straddling him and had his pants unbuttoned, he had a dark love bight on his neck and his face was burning up. _Happy, you traitor, you and Levi are officially on my shit list._

"Who knew Happy had such an evil side. And Levi to…" Gray stated, clapping Natsu on the back reassuringly.

"I think I might just die of embarrassment…" he grumbled.

"Hey Natsu… do you regret what we did?... or what we were _about _to do as a better way to put it." Gray asked

"No but… I'm still completely confused about my feelings. In fact I think I'm even more confused then I was to begin with now…" he said, feeling slightly exasperated by his even more screwed up emotions.

"Well at least you admitted to not regretting what happened between us, that's something. And beside I believe confusion leads to understanding, so the more confused you are the more you'll understand." Gray offered, grinning.

"That makes no sense at all." He pointed out, laughing lightly. "Does anything about this make sense?" Gray retorted. "Touché."

"Well there's something we've gained out of this whole experience." Gray breathed trying not to crack a smile. "And what's that?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. Gray's face broke out into a grin.

"Happy has an evil side, Levi is a closet pervert, and –best of all- you can't resist me." Gray cackled, ducking and just narrowly missing the sleeping bag he threw at him. "Oh shut up and go to sleep!" Natsu grumbled before lying down and shutting his eyes.

"Fine, fine. We'll pick up where we left off on a later date." Gray teased before planting a swift kiss on his lips and going to sleep.

Despite his annoyance, he smiled a little and brushed his fingers against his lips. _Maybe I will end up falling for Gray…_

**A/N: oh cock block part dose! First Loki and now Happy, I'm so evil! –insert maniacal cackle- Sorry it took me so long to update; I was in a bit of 'predicament' *coughs in shame*. This was my very first time writing a mature-ish yaoi scene so I'm sorry that it was kind of crappy and I will try my hardest to improve. And I will update as soon as possible.**


	8. I bet you

Natsu p.o.v.

He slowly opened his eyes, taking in his situations groggily. He was about to let out a yawn and rub the sleep from his eyes when he noticed something rather strange; he couldn't move. It didn't take long to figure out why. Gray's arms were wrapped protectively around him, pulling him close to Gray's chest. His face flushed in recollection of last night.

_Wait, we fell asleep a few feet apart. How the hell did this happen?_

"Gray, get up." He pushed on Gray's chest, but the ice mage wouldn't budge. He kept at it for a few minutes and then gave up with a grunt. Even though he pretended to be annoyed, he actually felt quite comfortable. Something about Gray's presence soothed him. Natsu's eyes wandered to Gray's face.

_Huh, I never noticed how long your eyelashes were before…_

In all truth, he hadn't noticed a lot of things about Gray, like how nice the shape of his face was, or how full his lips were, or how, in a certain light, his midnight black hair looked almost blue. Natsu was staring so intensely at Gray's face, that he gave a startled yelp when Gray's stormy gray-blue eyes snapped open. He felt his face heat up when Gray grinned at him.

"W-what are you smirking at?" he grumbled defensively.

"Heheh… Ohhh nothing… I was just wondering why you had such a serious expression while looking me," Gray laughed.

"D-don't flatter yourself… I wasn't staring at you or anything… I'm just glaring because I can't move!" he lied, trying to play it off.

"Oh sure, I 'totally' believe you."

"Erase that stupid grin off your face before I smack you! Now would you get off and explain why you were sleeping so close to me?"

He sighed with both relief and disappointment when Gray reluctantly let go and sat up, him doing the same.

"Well, in the middle of the night you started shivering, so I scooted over to keep you warm, and it must have worked because right after I did, you stopped," Gray explained, rubbing the back of his neck and stifling a yawn. The fact that Gray sounded so simply earnest gave him a small twinge of guilt for snapping at him, but before he could utter a single word of apology, Gray cut him off.

"Hey, Natsu, I have a little bet for you," Gray said abruptly. He blinked in bewilderment before urging him on with a grunt. "I bet I'll get you to say that you like me before we get back home," Gray explained, smiling and arching an eyebrow as if to say 'well?'

"I bet you I won't say that, but you're on," he retorted, his competitive side stirring within.

"Okay, but if I win, I get to tell all of Fairy Tail and anyone else I feel needs to know that you are mine and no one else can have you," Gray said fiercely, something dangerous in his tone and maybe even a little possessive. A delicious shiver ran down his spine at the thought of Gray being possessive over him, but he did his best to banish the feeling from his mind and body.

"And if you lose?" he countered. Gray gave a hardly noticeable wince as if the thought pained him.

"… if I lose, I will never pressure you, force my feelings upon you, or touch you intimately again, and only treat you as a friend unless you decide otherwise," Gray grumbled in a sulky tone, obviously not liking the thought of that. A slight pang of dislike wracked his nerves.

_I'm not sure I like that idea._

He forced a smile to turn the corners of his mouth, but knew it probably looked like a grimace. "Then the bet begins now."

"Okay, agreed. But I forgot to mention something. I'm allowed to use any means necessary to get you to admit it." He laughed slyly while Natsu's jaw dropped.

"You sneaky son of a bitch!" he raged, feeling momentarily flabbergasted. Gray used that moment to plant a chaste kiss on Natsu's lips before laughing madly and running out of the cave, away from the fire being launched at him with a hellacious ferocity.

"Gray! Get back here and fight like a man!" he called, running after him. A second too late, he realized Gray had frozen the floor right in front of the cave's exit, and proceeded to fall comically on his ass and skid into a pile of snow, cursing and spitting fire.

"Hahahahahahaha!" … Oh, God! .. I almost forgot how much fun it was to mess with you!.. Hahahahaha!" Gray cracked up, kneeling on the snowy ground- clutching his stomach- trying to catch his breath, and stop the tears from falling down his face. Natsu glared, devising a plan for revenge.

"You think that's funny, do you?" he asked, staring through narrowed eyes and smirking a little while advancing towards Gray. This cut Gray's laughing short and traded I with unease.

"Um… Natsu, why are you looking at me like that?" Gray asked, trying to scoot away, before he launched himself on top of the other. He fell on top of Gray, sending them flying down one of the hills and straight towards an almost frozen pond at a quickening pace.

He leaped off and watched Gray go face first into the pond. Gray came up, spurting water and spewing profanities.

"Hahaha! Revenge!" Natsu cackled indulgently, pointing and rocking back and forth on the ground in a childish manner- which fit him quite well since he was very childish.

Gray dragged himself out and shook the water from his hair. "Okay, I probably deserved that," Gray smiled, sitting next to Natsu as they got a fire going. They sat around the fire, trying to get warm and joking loudly, laughing at each other every few seconds. He smiled to himself as they began to settle down.

_We haven't joked around like this in what seems like forever. I'm glad that even though things are getting complicated, he's still my friend. _

_And maybe even more than a friend. _His conscious pointed out.

_And maybe even more… _he agreed with himself before blushing and pretending he'd never thought that. Gray poked him in the cheek.

"Your facial expression has changed more times in the past 30 seconds than a girl with a bipolar disorder," Gray pointed out.

"I was just thinking…" he said in a faraway tone.

"… about how sexy I am?" Gray asked, arching an eyebrow and making a "seductive" pouty face. His lips twitched, and he tried not to laugh. "But of course! What else could I possibly be thinking of?" he asked in mock shock. They laughed a little more. Gray sighed a little, pulling a face that could only be explained as someone who just ate something extremely bitter.

"What's wrong?"

"Fun times are over- for now. We have to get started on the mission, which means days of nothing but surveillance," Gray explained in exasperation. He groaned loudly, standing up with a huff. If there was one thing they hated more than anything, it was being bored.

They decided to set up a post on a cliff with a good view of the entire area, only 5 miles away from the cave. Binoculars in hand, he and Gray laid stomach first on the ground- propping themselves up with their elbows- and scoped out the area. After about two hours of fruitless waiting, Natsu collapsed on the ground.

"This is boring…" he mumbled, flicking a pebble off the edge.

"I know, but we have to do it," Gray sighed, cracking his sore, stiff neck.

"Why can't we just find the thing and kill it? That would be so much faster," he continued to complain, craving for action. Gray smiled mischievously, looking him playfully in the eye.

"Why is It that you want this quest over so fast? Afraid you won't be able to hide your feelings for me much longer?" Gray asked, turning towards him and resting his chin on his palm.

"Of course not! I-just… Oh, shut up!"

"Verrrrry convincing," Gray chuckled.

"Shut up and get back to work," he grumbled, looking back through his binoculars.

"Your wish is my command."

He rolled his eyes, frowning and creasing his eyebrows. "Maybe I'd like you if you weren't such a little prick…" he mumbled under his breath, snickering when Gray shot him a look.

He felt his eyelids getting heavier.

_What I wouldn't give for a nap! I'm just so boooorrred…_

He noticed his thoughts trailing to gray, which seemed to happen a lot these days.

_So… just theoretically, what if I did like Gray? Well, if that were true, I'd be gay and I'm obviously straight- wait… before this happened I never thought of any gender as anything more than a friend, so technically speaking, I never had a preference, and since I seem to have some fort of attraction towards a male, I may very well be gay! But wait, if I hold some type of attraction to Gray, and I'm gay, that means… Oh my, God, I might like Gray!_

His heart gave a weird jolt due to his recent discoveries, and he jumped up (letting the binoculars hit the ground) and screamed, "HOLY SHIT!" which caused Gray to yell in surprise and fall backwards as his binoculars fell off the cliff, hitting various rocks and jagged edges on its way down. Gray clutched his chest and tried to steady his breathing.

"Oh my, God, Natsu! You almost gave me a freakin' heart attack! There I was, seconds from falling asleep, and then all of a sudden you jump into the air screaming like someone who got their bloody foot cut off! What the hell, man?" Gray ranted accusingly, still shaking with adrenaline.

His face reddened and he stood there just staring, unable to explain wy he'd acted so stupidly.

"Well?" Gray asked. He tried to say something, but it was as if someone had severed his vocal cords, and he stood there, blush darkening, and feeling extremely self-conscious. How was he supposed to explain that he was gay and he might like Gray? The answer was, he couldn't, he just couldn't.

Gray rose to his feet with a worried expression.

"Natsu… are you okay?" Gray reached out to touch Natsu's shoulder and he did the only thing he could think of at the moment.

He ran. He ran through the bushes, past the trees, and up the hills as fast as he could, hoping Gray's shock would give him a head start. He got a mile and half distance when he tripped over a jagged boulder that cut his left calf. Blood began to color the otherwise white snow at an alarming rate, and his leg began to throb in pain.

"Shit! Well, this isn't the worst injury I've acquired by far…" and that was true, so why did it hurt so bad? He tried to walk, but when his leg failed him, he reluctantly sat under a tree and waited with folded arms, his leg beginning to feel like it was being torn apart, piece by piece.

Not even two minutes later, he began to get dreary and delusional, and his breath hitched at weird places. He was burning up, covered in a light coating of sweat despite the cold temperatures.

_What the hell is wrong with me? _Was the last thing he was able to think clearly before being plunged into a dark sleep.

**A/N: I am sooo sorry this is late, but I'm grounded and had to send this to my wonderful friend Gracie so she could post this for me. I'll have the next chapter up in a week or two, I promise! The plot is finally going to start unfolding and I plan on making this around 20 or so chapters so I surely hope y'all are patient because I would be very sad if my story stopped appealing to y'all! Haha thanks for the support and reviews and thank you sooooo much Gracie for being the most wonderfully, twistedly humorous, gracious, and so so much more friend and I love you so much and thank you for helping me out while I'm grounded!**


	9. taking control

Gray stood there in complete dumb founded shock. The arm he'd extended towards natsu now slumped to his side; what the hell had just happened? 'why did natsu run from me like i was something strait out of a horror movie? Why?' he thought numbly, confusion sinking in. 'he looked so frightened... Of me... Or not me exactly but something having to do with me maybe...' at that exact moment gray had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that something aweful was about to happen or allready happened. He felt sick with worry and when a certian fire mages face popped into his head he let out hiss. Something had happened to natsu, he was somehow sure of it. "natsu..." he breathed, begining to run in the boys general direction. 'why do i feel so scared? What if something bad happened to him? What if- what if that thing that attacked Happy found him?...oh god...' "natsu? NATSU?" he called out desperately, wildley searching for him. He was just barely noticing the tree branches that kept slicing at his skin, causing him to bleed slightly; his own pain wasnt of consequence at the moment, all that mattered was finding natsu. "where the hell is he?" he muttered to himself, feeling extremely on edge. "he couldn't have gotten that far! So where the hell is- N-natsu, oh no..." he stopped in his tracks, and his eyes widened in fear at the scene before him. He had finaly found natsu who was bleeding and and dead pale, his breathing uneven and shalow. He bent down to feel his forhead and when he made contact with the rozzetes skin he choked out a gasp. Natsu's skin was ice cold, and this was coming from an ice mage who never seemed to be bothered by the cold much. 'this is not good... Oh god this is realy not good, he's a god damned fire mage, he shouldnt be this cold! And he's had far worse injuries than this so why does he look so aweful?.." it didnt take long for his question to be answered, the rock jutting from the earth where natsu had cut his leg had some deadly strong, lethal looking poisen on it, i poisen -judjing by its look and effect- was made especialy to attack a fire mages body. After inspecting the rock he ran back over to natsu and almost doubled over from suprise. Natsus injured leg had turned a sickly purplish color and he was having serious trouble breathing. "there is no way in hell im letting you die!" he growled through gritted teeth and felt adrinaline begin to pump through his vains. He picked natsu up bridal style, holding him close to his chest, and ran as fast as he could, maybe even faster then that. It took him 17 minutes to get back to the cave and natsu's predicament was getting worse. He layes natsu down and cursed when he realised the poisen was allready in his system and only 7 or so minutes from reaching his heart and killing him. 'calm down and think gray, it wont do you any good if you freak out... I've learned about this poisen before and its antidotes... So all i need to do is find a way to Get one..." he forced himself to think clearly and when through all the antidotes in his head. After a few seconds of serious contemplation he knew what he had to do. The only antidote he could access was the worst, last resort, one that would put natsu through extreme tourterous pain and suffering until the poisen was gone but he had no other options. The antidote was an odd bit of ice mage magic that would slowly kill all the poisen but it would make natsu's veins feel like they were corsing liquid nitrogen. "i am so, so sorry natsu..." he choked out to the passed out boy and had to fight the sickneing wave of remourse he felt at the thought of causing the boy he cared most about to have to go through agonizing pain. With grief threatening to crash over him he mustered all of his mental and physical strength into this on piece of magic and placed his lips over natsu, breathing it into him. When he had finished pooring evey last ounce of magic into natsu he sat up and looked at him. Natsus face was allraedy contorting with pain and he began to squirm a little. Not 10 seconds had past when natsu let out his first earth shattering scream. He felt sick watching Natsu writhe in agony and he began to feel a deep sense of slef loathing. 'if only id fallowed him sooner! If i hadn't been so stupid and stood there for like 6 minutes he probably wouldn't be going through this!' finaly, after almost half an hour, natsu let out one last muffled groan of pain and began breathe more normaly, his body temperature going back to normal. Natsu came around and opened his eyes slowly, looking exhausted and sore. Something inside of gray broke and he began to babble insanely. "im sorry natsu!... I didnt want to cause you pain! But you were poisened and... And dying!" he yelled shakily -his voice breaking slightly at the last part- sounding extremely insane and eyes wide and crazy. "gray c-calm down... It wasnt your fault. So i was poisened?" natsu asked weakly. Gray drew in a deep breath and slowed his heart rate, natsu was right, it wasnt his fault, he had saved him and he needed to calm down. "yeah... That rock that cut you was laced with a very dangerous poisen made specificaly to hurt fire mages, like your self. I dont know who did this but who ever it is wants you gone..." he said more calmly, stroking natsu's sweat covered face. His breath hitched when natsu rested his own hand ontop his, closing his eyes and smiling sleepily. "natsu?" gray asked taken by suprise. "thank you gray.. Im sorry i ran from you, i was just scared because i found out *yawn* i... Might... *yawn*... Like you..." and with that natsu passed out, emmiting a soft snore every few seconds. His face burned red and his eyesgrew the size of two mini saucers. Had that truly just happened? He knew natsu wouldnt remember saying that when he woke up but it stille gave gray a warm sensation in his chest. If only he hadnt said that he 'might' like him and instead said he 'did' like him.

*Natsu's P.O.V.*

He gave a gratifying groan of pleasure when gray pressed the buldge of his boxers against his own. "mmm gray... Ah-ah yesss!" he moaned throatily when gray licked and nibbled lightly on his nipple, which caused his arousal to throb almost painfuly. He tangled his hands through grays hair and bucked his hips when gray gave another thrust. "ah... So goood but thes stupid clothes are getting in the way." even though they were only in there boxers he felt they were still wearing to much; He wanted to feal all of grays skin against his own and he wanted it now. "gray... Stop -mmm- teasing me and take your damn clothes off!" he demande impatiently, throwing his own boxers on the ground. "of course." gray grinned widely but made no move to do so. "what the hell?" he whined impatiently, feeling hot and achey. "i will... After you admit you like me, that is." gray cooed, grinning even more broadly. "fine." he said stubornly. "gray, i li-" he was suddenly enveloped in black before groggily opening his eyes and feeling a slight throbing in his groin area. 'damnit! What the hell? What kind of dream was that? And why did it give me an erection? And-' his angry self rant was cut off by gray's "ehem." and extremely self satisfied smug grin. His face turned deep red and he pulled his legs to his chest in an attempt to cover his 'problem'. Grays grin grew even wide and cockier. "first off theires no point in trying to cover up what i already saw. And secondly, when i woke up a few minutes ago i couldnt help but notice you 'moaning' my name." gray said, putting emphasis on the word moaning. He felt horror stricken and his throat seemed extremely dry. "N-no i w-wasnt! Yo-your lying! You h-have to be, right?" he croaked, feeling heat creep up his face. "no im not. If memory serves me right, it went a little something like this; 'mmm gray- what the hell?" gray was cut off when natsu flung himself ontop of him (his erection gone) in an attempt to strangle him. "shut. The. Hell. Up!" he yelled feebly shaking grays head back and forth, his face extremely red and hurt, before letting go and hanging his head. "oh shit natsu! Im sorry i didnt meen to upset you! I was being stupid, you're still recovering from the poisen and that meens i shouldnt make you exert so much energy..." gray apalogized, looking slightly taken aback, and handed him some water and food. He sat there for a moment scarfing down his food. "you're such an asshole... I cant believe i ever told you i might like you..." he grumbled, folding his arms arms and looking away in a very pissed off manner, feeling extremely emberased and self concious knowing grays eyes were locked on him. "im sorry... Wait? You remember saying that to me? So yo were being serious?" gray asked eagerly. "yes i was serious! But now im starting to question it myself." he said self pittyingly, taking an intentional stab at gray for teasing him. "i said i was sorry! C'mon dont go getting me all exited and then change your mind, Puh-lease?" gray asked desperately, clasping his hands together in, trembling his lower lip, and making puppy dog eyes at him. 'damn thats a cute face... How the hell am i supposed to say no now? Damnit he's allways he's allways taking advantage of the situation. I should try having the upper hand for once!' a smile broke across his previously iratated face, he knew how to take control of the situation. "hey gray..." he called to other who looked down at him questioningly. He grinned and placed his lips against grays, supresing a laugh when gray froze and his eyes popped. Grining against his lips he decided to straddle gray -who was in a sitting position- puting each leg on either side and bit down roughly on grays lip. He could have giggled with glee -since his plan was working out quite nicely- when gray opened his mouth to let out a gasp of slight pain, but decided to slip his tongue into his mouth instead. He could here grays breathing hitch and heart accelerate as both of there faces redened. Letting out a stisfied hum he began to massage the ,now responding, gray's tongue sucking and biting on the appendage. When gray let out a low moan an arouing snesation began to radiat throughout him. 'damn... Im getting a bit carried away which meens its time to stop..." he sighed inwardly and broke the kiss with gray, standing up quick. With a grin planted on his face he turned on his heals and began to walk away slowly, intentionly swaying his hips seductively. "wh-what the hell ?" gray asked huskily,fallowing in pursuit. "i was taking control of the situation. Now we have a mission to do." he grinned evily, throwing a pair of binoculars at gray, who almost dropped them in his state of confusion. "thats messed upppp. You got me all turned on, letting you play lead, and then you just walk away like nothing happened." gray complained, biting his lip in dissapointment. "that was my plan." as they surveyed the scene he noticed gray glance in his direction with desire filled eyes, and inwardly laughed, getting a small sort of sadistic pleasure from messing with grays mind. 'if i end up liking you, theres no way in hell im going down without a fight' in a way he was admittin that he was more than likely to end up falling for the raven, but if that was the case then he was going to make sure that he gave gray hell before giving in.

5 days passed and it was their 8th day since theyd gotten here and still they had seen nothing. "this is total bull, how has this thing gone about undetected for this long? It just doesnt make sense!" gray compained, throwing his arms up in frustration. He nodded in agreement, agitated by the lack of action taking place. "yeah how the hell am i suposed to avenge Happy when i cant even find the thing?- wait... Whats that?" natsu saw a strange unatural movement on a cliff to the west of them. He shifted his body and ajusted the binoculars, gray doing the same. "what the hell?" they said in shocked unison as he felt a chill run down his spine and had to supress a disturbed shudder. The thing was cloaked in black, face covered by a distorted demon mask, and had a grotesque smile full of razor sharp jagged teeth. The skin that wasnt completely consealed by the cloak was a sickly gray leathery dead color And it seemed to be floating 2 or 3 inches off the ground as unattural dark gray smoke coiled around it. That was the thing that had attaked happy, he was sure of it. Natsu got in optimum position to attack when gray put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head mouthing "no". He bit back a snarl and got back to looking through the binoculars with a merderous glare. 'stupid gray, stopping me from doing something i'd probably regret.' no matter how much he loathed to admit it, he knew that attacking an unknown creature they had no information on or experience with would seriously jepordize the mission and maybe even their lives. So he sat back and continued to look through the binoculars like a good little fairy-lit. He watched as it glided to a clear patch of earth and began to practice with a pentogram. It pulled out a vile containing what seemed to be blood and poored it on the pentogram. The blood went completely around the demon star and it began to pulsate a sickly violet color, causing the trees to bend in the wind and the clouds to darken. Thunder and lightning clashed overhead and cold rain began to fall bluring the creatures image eve so slightly. Gray tensed looking a bit horror stricken. Natsu knew exactly how he felt; neither of them had ever seen magic like this but they kew it was dark evil magic, you could actualy feel the powerful malice radiating from from the pentogram in the air. The thing opened its mouth and hissed in a cold raspy voice, "soon, very soon my brothers, you shall rise with me and we shall show this reched world how severe the consequences are for imprisoning such devine beings as us. This world along with every thing in it shall pay..." then without warning it dissapeared in a puff of bilowing smoke, leaving gray and natsu to stare wordlessly at eachother. This was far worse then they had once believed.

**A/N: this is so freaking late! I hope the chapter was worth it though. The plot is realy starting to unfold now and natsu's even sarting to sort of admit his feelings for gray, but dont worry im planning on making this 20 or more chapters so we still got alot to cover before the end of this thing. My laptop is near its end... So untill i fix it or probably get a new one im going to have my lovely friend gracie continue to put the chapters up for me. Ill be updating more frequently, probably once or twice every two weeks so yeah, hope you enjoyed and continue to read :3**


	10. CreakHaven

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail but if I did it would be full of crack couples and yaoi, sweet sweet yaoi….**

**A/N: Gomenosai! Testing came up and I almost ended the year with a C in math and almost wasn't aloud to see my best friend Gracie for the summer during July and all my teachers exept 2 gave me realy complex projects on the last 2 weeks of school and oh god I was so stressed and all I wanted to do was post this chapter and watch anime and eat onigiri and sabrinas moms curry and, and… *takes deep breath* sorry about the mini rant guys and I'm especialy sorry this chapter took so long to come out but it is now summer break and chapters will be coming out more frequently :D unless my laptop explodes or something… but that probably won't happen *mumble* I hope *mumble* so I am pleased to say that, yes there will be a lemon after the defeat this "mysterious" creature but untill then there's gonna be a lot of M rated sexual tension. anyway… enjoy. (also sorry about my last chapters formatting…)**

Natsu pov

They had decided to regroup at the cave to try and devise some sort of plan for what to do. Gray had his face buried in hands, face scrunched up in contemplation.

"First off we need to find out what this thing or get some sort of general idea atleast." Natsu muttered, pacing back and forth with his arms drawn behind him.

Gray slammed his fist on the cave wall making him turn around and stare at the apparently frusterated ice mage. "Damnit I can't think!" Gray growled, stripping down to his boxers like he usualy did in most situations. Suddenly Gray's face cleared and a plan seemed to unravel before him (or atleast that was the impression his expression was giving off).

"I've got it!" Gray announced, hitting his fist on his palm.

Natsu stopped and gave Gray his full attention, slightly amused by how the raven could only seem to think clearly while half naked and god did he look good clad in only his his boxers.

_Don't think that right now! What the hell is wrong with me?_

"There has to be a village somewhere nearby and they should have some local legends and, if not, maybe they have a library holding the information we need." Gray concurred, sounding genuinely pleased with himself.

"wow Gray, that's actualy realy smart… and maybe they'll have food!" he said exitedly, impressed by Gray's idea.

"Hey I'm not just a pretty face, I got some brains to." He said a bit to hearnestly.

"Yeah sure." Natsu agreed unconvincingly, rolling his eyes. "So where exactly do you think we'd find the village?" he asked.

"Well, probably somewhere down the mountian I guess." Gray answered, walking towards the cave's exit and beconing him to fallow.

He face palmed and called out "Gray, your clothes" feeling like Kana at that moment.

"Oh, oh yeah… heheh…" Gray laughed awkwardly, turning around and redressing himself.

_Yeah Gray, you _realy_ do have some brains in there don't you? _He thought sarcasticaly to himself, following Gray outside into a forest with an uneven downhill pathway.

He folded his arms to keep in some warmth and walked a few paces behind Gray, turning his head from side to side every time something caught his eye.

He watched how Gray walked casualy infront of him with his hands drawn behind his head, just out of arms reach.

Natsu had a sudden pang of desire to reach out and grab hold of his hand but ruled out the feeling imediately, feeling emberased for even thinking something so stupid.

_It's okay Natsu, you just aren't feeling well. It's not like you'd ever want to be so close to that droopy eyed bastard. _Even he knew that was a lie and that truly scared him.

When the silence became too unbearably awkward he cleared his throat and asked, "So, um, how long do you think it'll take to get down this mountain?"

"I don't know, maybe two or three hours. Why, you in a hurry?" Gray responded turning his head in his direction, a look of displeasure on his face.

"what's wrong?" he asked, a little bewildered.

"You're to far away, come here." Feeling extremely taken aback he walked up next to Gray, who had stopped and didn't start walking until they were side by side.

"Happy now?" he asked, when the displeased look did not vanish.

"Not quite." Gray muttered, causing Natsu to arch an eyebrow. He was about to ask what else the ice mage could possibly want when his breath caught and he felt himself incapable of speech.

Gray had grabbed hold of natsu's hand, intertwining their fingers together and made it where they were brushing their shoulders together with every step they took.

"That's better, you're close enough now." Gray smiled, giving a comfortable sigh. His face reddened and he swallowed hard. In truth, he had actually never held hands with anyone before, so it made him suprisingly nervous.

"U-um… Gray? Isn't this a bit, um, awkward?.." he asked in a small voice, embarased to know he felt comfort from the pressure Gray's hand interlocked with his.

"Is it realy that big of a deal?" Gray asked indifferently, refusing to meet his eyes. _Yes, yes it actually is a big deal. I'm afraid that if I don't let go of your hand soon I'll never want to… _he gulped again as his blush deepened and he made an attempt to pull away.

Gray tightened his grip and looked at him with submissive eyes and a heart breaking smile, his cheeks lightly dusted over with pink.

Natsu blinked in surprise and his mouth felt dry.

"I can't help it, all I ever want anymore is to be close to you. You've already taken control of my thoughts and feelings so even if just for a moment please allow me to be a little selfish and stay by your side." Gray said so sincerely, so sweetly without even a trace of his usual joking-ness that it actualy hurt his heart.

He didn't know what to say to Gray's confession so when he looked up into the stormy gray blue eyes of the man who was slowly making fall for him (even thogh he didn't completely realize it yet) as the days went by, without even thinking about it, he stood on his toes and leaned over to place a small kiss on the ravens cheek.

He pulled away and blushed at his out of character action while Gray smiled more broadly.

"What was that for, ne?" Gray asked happily, intentionally asking him this to make him feel uncomfortable.

"Tch… you looked so pitiful with that hurt face of yours… so I just thought… well I guess I just sort of… oh never mind god dammit! You're just not fare when you say things like that…" he grumbled, feeling more flustered then usual and looking down stubbornly as Gray continued to look more and more cocky.

_Why does he make me react like that? Not even a month ago I was telling anyone that would listen I hated him… and now I can hardly do or say anything around him without feeling embarrased!_

He gave a little huff when his conscious decided to answer him.

_Hmm, I wonder why? _He thought sarcasticaly to himself.

_Oh, shut up! I am _not _in the mood to deal with you right now. _He warned.

_You're not in the mood to deal with yourself?.. Hmm, well have fun trying to cope with that because im not shutting up. _His conscious thought pleasently.

_You're such an ass!_

_Actualy, since we are the same person, we are 'such an ass' as you put it. and technically thinking I am the smarter, more truthful side of your thoughts._

_Well I don't want to hear it! So shut up!_

_No, I don't care if you don't want to hear the truth because I'm going to give you the truth; so shut up, stop being a baby, and listen! Now, the reason you are reacting to Gray like this is because you like- _

"AAGGRHHH!" he yelled, (spewing out fire in the process and almost scorching a bush) startling Gray and some nearby birds who almost fell straight out of the tree they were perched in.

"Uh… Natsu, you okay?" Gray asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"I won't shut up! Why am I such an ass to myself?" he ranted,not paying any attention to how crazy he sounded at the moment.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked, confusion as well as curiosity evident in his tone.

"My stupid ass concious won't shut the hell up! It keeps trying to tell me that I-" he cut himself off with a startled choking noise, realizing just exactly what he was about to say.

"Heheh… Nevermind. Just ignore my psychotic ranting." He finished awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"I'm choosing not to. Now tell me." Gray demanded, not even having the common courtesy to ask.

"I refuse." He said stubbornly, turning his face awy and sticking his nose slightly in the air in defiance. Gray sighed and ran his fingers through his midnight colored hair.

"Well I guess you leave me no other choice…"

"what's that supposed to mean?" he asked looking at Gray who now had now had his eyes shut tightly in concentration. He felt horror struck when he took in Gray's position.

"You wouldn't." he said in disbelief.

"Oh, but I would. Ice make hand cuffs!" gray called out right before grabbing back onto Natsu's hand. He felt something cold slink around his wrist.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." He looked at Gray incredulously and then back at his wrist. Gray had hand cuffed them together on the side they were holding hands on.

"I am not kidding you. And if you break them I'll freeze our hands together." Gray said pleasently, continuing to walk down the trail as if this was just a normal, every day occurance.

"well then I guess you and I are going to be connected for a while because I'm not talking." He snarled through his teeth.

"Oh, is that a chalange?" Gray asked, his competitive side glenting in his eyes.

"Yes, and I'm winning this one. And, just to make it interesting, if I win you have to listen to me for an entire day like a servent." He said, smiling evily at the idea.

"I can agree to that, but if _I _win then I want you to let us be connected in a different way then just hand cuffs." Gray cooed, laughing in an evil yet delicious way that sent a tingling sensation throughout his body.

"Eh?" he squeaked, his eyes going huge and face turning a deep shade of crimson at what Gray was insinuating. His reaction caused Gray to laugh even more darkly.

"Thinking perverted thoughts Natsu? I just meant a kiss."

"Lier! You totally meant something less innocent then a kiss." He accused, his face somehow managing to darken in color.

"Haha, yeah you're right but you can't back out now; the bet was your idea."

"You're evil."

"Damn strait." Gray agreed proudly.

It had been a little over an hour and they still had a while. And to make matters worse he was cold, hungry, and still hadn't thought of a way for Gray to take the hand cuffs off without telling Gray the truth and losing the bet.

"C'mon Gray~ these are getting uncomfortable." Natsu whined, begging Gray fot the 15th time to take these forsaken things off.

"Like I keep saying, I will when you tell me what caused that random outburst of yours." Gray said patiently, pusthing a stray piece of hair from his eyes. He sighed in exasperation, scratching his his forhead in thought.

_Well, I guess I'm gonna have to resort to _that _thing… _he hung his head sollemnly and took a deep breath, swallowing his pride.

"Gray…" he called out desperately, slanting his eyebrows and subtly protruding his lip, a light blush dusting his face in embarrasment of his hurt pride (which probably only helped to make him look even more hurt and sad). Gray was so taken aback that he almost tripped over his own two feet.

"Please take them off, the coldness is starting to hurt me." He begged sadly, putting his un-cuffed hand on Gray's chest and looking up at him.

He could feel Gray's heart beating extremely hard through the fabric of his shirt and could see the blood rushing To the ice mages face at exceptional speed.

"U-um…" Gray stuttered –his voice more thick than usual- and swallowed hard.

"Besides… I really want to keep my reasoning for freaking out back there to myself, it's embarrasing…" he wimpered, batting his eyelashes, while inwardly face palming for using such a weak method.

Gray's blush increased and he murmured in an incredibly husky voice, "Fine I'll take them off but in return… let me kiss you…" his eyes widened for a fraction of a second before nodding in agreement, as the ice cuffs shattered.

Gray pulled Natsu into his arms and leaned down, brushing there lips together so carefully that it gave him the impression Gray was trying to control himself.

When he pushed himself up against the ice mage and noticed that Gray seemed to have a 'problem' down below his heart rate race increased, somehow exited by the fact he'd managed to turn the raven on so easily.

That exitement soon turned into lust and he began to respond more agressively to the cautious kiss. He tightened his grip on Gray's shirt, the soft material crincling between his fingers.

He felt Gray's tongue push lightly on his lips and allowed almost immidiate acces. Gray knotted there tongues together taking advantage of Natsu's responsiveness.

He moaned quietly when Gray nipped him delicately on the tongue and a spiral of heat shot down to his groin. He felt Gray smile on his lips and found out why when the raven slipped his thigh between Natsu's legs, massaging the steadily growing bulge of his pants.

"Mnn.." he panted in pleasure, pushing down slightly onto Gray's thigh.

Gray pulled his lips away and began to plant soft kisses on his jaw. His vision began to glaze over and he heard only his throbbing heart beat and blood rushing through his ears.

When he felt Gray's fingers brush his hips from under his shirt his senses came back.

"Gray stop… only a kiss, remember." He said a little to huskily, pushing away from Gray and trying to calm himself.

"But… awe c'mon if we stop now how will we get rid of our, erm, 'problem'." Gray whined, looking half mad with lust.

He knew what Gray ment but there had to be a different way of calming themselves down; that's when a thought hit him.

"I know what to do. Think of master naked." He said, feeling the front of his pants loosen instantly, the thought having the same affect on Gray.

"Umm… sorry about that Natsu… I kind of went over board." Gray apologized awkwardly.

"you think?" he grumbled, a bit annoyed of how Gray took advantage of things as usual.

"Well look on the bright side, you won the bet..." Gray said with extreme dissapointment, his dream of penatrating Natsu growing smaller in the distance.

His mood sky rocketed. "haha, which meens at some point in the near future you're going to have to do whatever I say." he practicly sang, grinning evily while Gray continued to look more and more dpressed.

"My life sucks." Gray muttered under his breath, walking with his head hung down.

"I want food." He complained an hour later.

"You allways want food… oh, there it is."

In the distance they could see a town forming from behing the trees.

When they got to the front gates, standing ajar, they frowned.

Lying infront of them was an extremely aged and delapetated town holding no more then 40 poorely taken care of buildings with aged, peeling paint and dusty, unclean windows.

The grimey, roughly carved sign bore the words 'CreakHaven'.

He began to take cautious steps into the town, Gray fallowing close behind, hovering protectively over him.

As they walked they noticed most people prefered staying inside and the ones out of their poorly taken care of homes looked confused and had glazed over eyes.

One old man with gnarled, unkept gray hair and a grizzily beard gave them a practicaly toothless, dreamy grin and cooed, "I like the way your hair glistens in snow." before continuing to play with a rusted can.

"What the hell?" he asked in confusion.

"There is something seriously wrong with this town… I don't know if we'll be able to find any information here." Gray whispered back, glaring aprahensively at a shifty eyed looking man that was taking a perticular interest in Natsu.

"Let's try this way." He said, tugging Gray by the sleeve to get his attention and walking down an unpaved ally way.

"Because going down a creepy ally in an unknown town with sketchy looking people is _allways_ a good idea." Gray mumbled under his breath.

He chose to ignore the comment and continued walking down the path.

There wasn't a single living thing down the ally and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of their feet crunching against the dirt tinged snow, which was extremely eerie.

"why is this place so creepy and where in the hell are we gonna find a reliable source in a place like this." He asked himself outloud.

Then something caught his eye and he walked to the other side of the ally while Gray made no move to fallow, his mind seeming to be somewhere else.

A boarded up door with a pentogram cut roughly into the splintered wood stood infront of him.

"Hey Gray I think I found-" he was cut off by a loud clanking noise fallowed by an unkown voice raspilly yelling, " Ahh! My freakin' nose!"

He spun around in confused shock only to stop and feel a sweat drop fall down his face.

In the few minutes Natsu had not been looking Gray had managed to get his foot stuck through a crumbling part of a brick wall, backhand an unknown old man in the nose, and freeze the old man's arms to the wall.

"What the hell happened in the two minutes I wasn't paying attention?" he asked.

"Well you see, I've been feeling extremely paranoid since we arrived to this town and so when this man," he jerked a thumb in the old guys direction, "tapped me on the shoulder I kind of freaked out and kicked the wall, backhanded him in the face, and froze him to the wall." Gray finished, looking a bit embarrased.

Natsu tried to stop his lips from twitching into a smile.

"It's not funny!" both Gray and the old guy yelled, the blood running to their faces.

"Ku- o-of course it's n-not, pfft." He managed to say through his teeth, covering his mouth and tears filling his eyes in determination not to laugh at this, oh, to amusing situation.

Gray just glared and turned back to the man.

"So who the hell are you and what do want?" Gray asked coldly, practicaly spitting venom.

"I'll tell you if you remove me from the wall." The old man said pleasently, seamingly uneffected by Gray's cruel tone.

"Tch. Fine but if you so much as even make an attempt to run your ass is grass." Gray warned letting the man down.

"Well technacely my ass would be ice because you're an ice mage, not a grass mage." He retorted, rubbing his slightly chilled wrists.

Natsu smiled a little; this guy was kind of funny and had a way of pissing off Gray that even he couldn't manage.

"Okay, first off, my name's Beranabus. I aproached you because I know you two are the mages who came to investigate the strange occurences that have been happening in this area and I bet you two allready know the thing that's causing it and that you're probibly looking for information. Now, I don't know if you noticed but the people around here are a bit ,erm, strange and they won't be any help to you in your search." Beranabus paused and let the information sink in.

"So, what of it?" Natus asked and Beranabus smile like that was exactly what he wanted here.

"The rest of the people might not be able to help you but I can."

"Fine then, prove it." Gray said cooly, daring him to prove he was more then just talk.

Gray pov

Natsu and he fallowed Beranubus to the edge of town where a pitiful excuse for a house –more like a shack in his opinion- sat.

As Beranabus pulled out his keys he gave them a curious look. "I don't meen to pry but are you two a couple?"

"U-um… uh, w-well you see… it's c-complicated." Natsu sputtered, his cheeks turning what Gray thought were a delicious shade of crimson.

"Yes, he belongs to me rather he likes it or pretends not to, so don't get any ideas." He said sweetly, giving Beranabus the 'if you touch him I'll cut your goddamn balls off' look. Beranabus chuckled.

"No, you misunderstand my curiosity, I simply asked because I think you two go extremely well together, even if your boyfriend is a bit of a tsundare." Beranabus reasured him.

He grinned broadly, deciding right then and there he like this guy.

"Don't egg him on!" Natsu begged.

"awe don't be difficult _Natsu~_" he wispered into Natsu's ear, drawing his name out and causing an involentary shiver of pleasure to run through the rosette.

He grinned cockily to himselt as Beranabus opened the door and beconed them inside.

It was just as unimpressive and plain instide as it was outside and he was beginning to questions the man's actual worth, atleast he did so until Beranabus gave a little grin a flipped a switch that had been concealed by a small picture frame.

The floor boards began to quake and dust filled the air. They coughed and wiped the dust from their eyes and what he saw mad him gasp.

The floor boards had split in half to reveal a row of old stone steps that led down to, what seemed to be, a cellar.

"Sugoi… how incredible." Ntsu gasped, looking exitedly at the unkown room.

"Okay boys, come down here and I'll tell you what I know." Beranabus beconed them and they fallowed curiosly while still staying alert.

The room was spacious and comfortable and supringly comfortable. Their were 5 medium sized book shelves, a gothic styled fire place, a wing backed chair, a loveseat with plush red cushons (which, much to his aproval, he and Natsu would have to share), two coffee tables, and was all lit by antique bronze colored torches lining the walls.

"What is this place?" he asked, letting his eyes wonder.

"My study." Berananus answered proudly before saying, "Now first I'll tell you some basic things before I let you two go looking through my books for information and while you two are looking I'll get you something to eat because your rosey haired friend over there is eyeing that empty plate on the coffee table like if he stares at it hard enough food will magicaly apear before him."

Beranabus chuckled when Natsu looked at them with sparkly eyes at the word food.

After they all sat down and got comfortable, his arm draped around Natsu and the fire mage unconciously leaning into him, not fighting against his closeness fo once –much to his happyness- Beranabus told them his story.

"I've lived here since I was born and fifty years ago, on my fifteenth birthday, I inherited the family library. Five years later, though, a strange creature intent on destroying our race attacked our land but was quickly caged in an alternative demension in a cavern under our village." He took a quick breather before continuing.

"For two or three years our town lived in fear until life aventualy life returned to normal, that is, until twenty years ago the mayor was assassinated and his son was appointed the new mayor and I still think it was his son who took his father's life out of greed and power lust." Beranabus paused again and shook his head in digust.

"Anyway, three years ago he accused me of carrying falsified information in my library and burnt it down while I was still inside. Sadly, I was only able to save 90 of my most important books out of the 7,500 I owned… and then about a month ago he put up a request for two mages help investigating the occurances happening around here, but without giving any other information, help, explanation, or even showing his face… and he seemed disturbingly happy with himself afterwards…" Beranabus trailed off, seeming lost in thought.

"What an ass hole! I'm going to kick the shit out of this poor excuse for a mayor. Accusing an important person of the community without any trace of evidence and then destroying what's precious to him… That's unforgivable!" Natsu raged, nashing his teeth together and slamming his fist on the table.

_Oh shit, Natsu's pissed._

Beranabus smiled sadly. "It's okay, my boy. If you want to help me then please just figure out what's happening to my precious town."

"Of course! I promise, as a fairy tail mage, we will put an end to this. Alright, I'm all fired up! What about you Gray?" Natsu asked, radiating the pure energy that always gave Gray strength even in the darkest of siuations.

"Of course." He replied confedently.

Beranabus gave a grateful and hopeful smile and whent up stairs to prepare some food, leaving them to start searching.

"I guess it's time to get started." Natsu mumbled, cracking his knuckles with a far away look, his previous enthusiasm gone.

_Hmm… something's wrong with him…_

"Natsu… what's wrong?" he asked, tightening his arm around Natsu's shoulders.

"I feel bad for Beranabus. He lost something precious to him like I did…"

"You're talking about Igneel. Right?"

"Yeah… he was, and still is, the most important thing to me." Natsu's face contorted in pain like it always did when he thought seriously about Igneel, before being replaced by a look of tired sadness.

They both sat in silence for a moment and stared into the low lit fire that, along with the torches, were throwing shadows across their faces.

Natsu leaned into him more and asked in a dull voice, "hey Gray, what's the most important thing in your life?"

He blinked in surprise before sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"I'm going to honestly tell you just this once so listen carefuly… It used to be my teacher Ul but it's changed recently… The thing most important to me, more important than my own life is… you…" he felt his cheeks burn a little and his heart beat fast at his cheesy, uncharacteristic confession.

"Lier." Natsu accused a bit angrily.

"I am not." He glared coldy at natsu for belittling his feelings, who glared straight back.

"I refuse to believe that I could even come close to Ul."

"And why's that?" he asked stonily.

Natsu smiled and shook his head slightly like Gray was asking the most obvious question in world.

"Because, iiiidiiiiot, you loved Ul and you may like me but that feeling is nothing compared to love."

He felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. It was true that he loved Ul but if he only liked Natsu then why did he feel like he was the most important thing in this ice mages heart?

"So, Gray, at a loss of words?" Natsu aske in cocky triumph.

"Um…" was the best response could come up with.

"Haha, I win! So have you learned your lesson? Don't answer those kind of questons so rashly."

_Love, huh? I loved Ul like a mother but what does the other type of love feel like? When I think of the more romantic aspect of love what do I think of?_

_Hmm… I think of pointy eyes glaring at me, quick to get into a fight to save what he cares about or to prove his self worth, spewing fire and reeking havok whenever he sees fit._

_But I also think of pink hair that's suprisingly soft, kind words, a sweet smile, a person who is true to their word as well as their friendship, and a scale designed scarf that's used like a security blanket._

_When I think of love I think of… Natsu…_

_Oh god, I'm in love with someone who doesn't even know if he likes me back…_

**A/N: That's right, Gray officialy wuvs Natsu. But will he tell him or keep quiet? Guess you'll have wait until the next chapter to find out (I is so evil). I hope you enjoyed the tenth chapter of 'and so it begins' and I hope you continue to keep reading, enjoying, and leaving your wonderful, encouraging comments. :D until next time.**


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